Happy Monday! Even though I fell in love with the Daevabad series last year only, I can’t believe it is over! This is unequivocally one of the best fantasies I’ve ever read, set against the backdrop of Middle East, which started with our badass, fierce, sassy & really intelligent protagonist Nahri, a con woman, from Cairo. I’ll admit, initially, City of Brass was a bit difficult to get into because of the pacing but what a world it set up and just how lushly Kingdom of Copper developed upon it and Empire of Gold (EoG) was just sheer perfection.
Lets get into the review of this epic high fantasy!
There might be some spoilers for book 2 so beware 🙈. You can find my review for Kingdom of Copper here.
*A physical copy was provided to me by the publishers. This review is in no way influenced by that fact. Thank you HarperCollins India.*
Name: Empire of Gold
Author: SA Chakraborty
Pages: 766
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Daevabad has fallen.
After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.
But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.
Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.
As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.
My Review:
“I find that those who look at politics with contempt, are usually the first to be dragged down by them.”
In this magnificent last installment, Chakraborty whisks us to her beautiful world of Daevabad, which holds a mirror to our society and to our beloved characters as it feels as if no time has elapsed.
As Nahri flees from Daevabad to evade her mother, she and the brooding idealistic Djinn Prince, Ali end up in Cairo and Nahri encounters old friends and acquaintances, which she hadn’t even thought of in the past half decade (HALF A DECADE!! Time wise, this trilogy is wild ya’ll).
As Nahri grapples with her loss of magic and the dilemma to stay in the human world, away from the messy politics of Daevabad which had brought her nothing but pain & suffering. But her sense of duty to help her subjects back home compels her to make some difficult decisions.
We delve deeper into the past of our cinnamon roll characters- Nahri, Dara & Ali, and every loose end is tied so well. We look into history, ancestry and relatives which is rife with a few plot twists 😉.
The magic system is so intricate yet so simple & we also have the introduction of some forbidden magic. 🎵 Wiiii-cked! 🎵 The writing is exquisite and the word building is beautifully descriptive, which will never bore you, not a boring second in this 700+ pages tome!!
We’ve minor gods, marids, mythical creatures and oooh, pirates on the high seas! One of my favourite character that was introduced in this book was badass fearless and sassy Fiza 😍.
This book is just brutal- countless senseless deaths, high ambitions leading to ones destruction as they become the thing they swore to destroy, people reduced to being puppets as they loose free will & more. SO MUCH MORE!!! *screams in anguish*.
It explored themes of religion, family, duty and sacrifice and is so concurrent with our times- messy & manipulative politics, maltreatment and persecution of minorities and discrimination against them, an oppressive regime and just senseless massacres in the midst of a brewing full blown civil war.
I love the fact that all the characters are so well fleshed out, with different layers and so grey! Like no one is flawless; just so human that your heart aches fro them. We also have some great character development and wonderful queer rep (bbys 🥺) along with plot twists you WON’T SEE COMING!!
Coming to the last thing, I love a good romance. In EoG, it’s messy, angsty and perfect and in no way the central plot point, a fact I quite liked. The book depicted how all the characters are exploring their lives and can function just as well independently and don’t necessarily need a partner or romance to spice up their lives.
“It’s that those in power have a rather biased view of how they treat the people who bring them tributes.”
This quote just reminds me, as a History student, of how history is generally written from the point of view of the rulers and those who belong to the privileged class.
In the end, in my humble opinion, I would request you all to read this wonderful series if you love fantasy with all the elements and aspects I mentioned above 🙇🏻♀️.
Buy it here or from your favourite Indie bookstore 😁. Until next time, Ciao!
Kaleidoscopic Nerdy 